1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a centrifugal braking apparatus for a baitcasting reel.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has conventionally been known a centrifugal braking apparatus for a baitcasting reel, in which a spool is prevented from being overrun to avoid an occurrence of backlash by slidably disposing brake weights along guide pins or guide grooves which is radially provided on one end of the spool so that the brake weights can come into contact with the inner peripheral surface of a brake drum provided on a reel main body under a function of centrifugal force produced by rotation of the spool.
In such a conventional centrifugal braking apparatus, the contact position of the brake weights with the brake drum is limited due to the slide of the brake weights in a radial direction, thus causing a problem of uneasy adjustment of the braking force. The brake weights located in its lower position may fall out from the guide pins or grooves, when assembling steps of the baitcasting reel are carried out, thus causing an undesirable problem.
Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. S57-22,637 discloses a baitcasting reel having a centrifugal braking apparatus, in which levers each having a pair of opposite outer and inner arms are disposed on one end of the spool by means of pivot shafts which are perpendicular to the rotation axis of the spool, respectively, in order to solve the above-mentioned problem. The above-mentioned lever is swung, along with the rotation of the spool, around the pivot shaft located between the opposite outer and inner arms of the lever, under the function of its outer arm acting as a weight, so that the inner arm can come into contact with the braking member disposed on the reel main body, thus causing the braking force.
However, in the braking apparatus of the above-described Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. S57-22,637, it is hard to make fine adjustment of the braking force, thus making it impossible to obtain an optimum braking force, since the contact position of the lever having the opposite outer and inner arms with the braking member is located in the vicinity of the rotation axis of the spool.